DESCRIPTION, OVERALL (provided by applicant): This application is for a 5 year renewal of the Colorado Clinical Nutrition Research Unit (CNRU). The Colorado CNRU was originally funded in January, 1995 to serve 41 investigators. Now, in our eleventh year of operation, we serve 67 investigators.The broad goal of the Colorado CNRU is to enhance the nutrition-related research base and to help promising junior scientists with an interest in nutrition, develop into independent investigators. The theme of the Colorado CNRU, nutrient utilization, captures the broad interests of a majority of our research base members. We have identified 4 research focus areas with that broad theme: obesity & diabetes; developmental aspects of nutrition utilization; micronutrient utilization and function and community nutrition. The research supported by the CNRU includes a continuum from the patient or health subject to the subcellular and molecular levels. We propose an Administrative Core and 3 scientific core laboratories: Energy Balance, Mass Spectrometry and Metabolic. The use of core laboratories, the number of CNRU support publications and the federal funding for nutrition research continues to steadily expand. The CNRU Director, Dr. James Hill and the Associate Director, Dr. Dan Bessesen, are supported by a strong Executive Committee. The Colorado CNRU is located at the Center for Human Nutrition (CHN) at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. The CHN has strong programs for nutrition education, research training, clinical nutrition services and community outreach. The existence of a CNRU in Colorado has energized an already strong group of nutrition investigators and has led to many exciting new collaborations and interactions, along with gaining recognition both nationally and within our university. We look forward to continuing to enhance nutrition research within Colorado over the next 5 years.